Power-transmitting device



(No Model.) 3 SheetsSheet 1.

S. K. WHITE. POWER TRANSMITTING DEVICE.

No. 439,316. Patented Oct; 28, 1890.

' (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

S. K. WHITE.

POWER TRANSMITTING DEVICE.

No. 439,316. Patented Oct. 28', 1890.

a w R p Mon/tow W-sewm PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL K. \Nl-IITE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

POWER-TRANSMITTING DEVNICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of .Letters Patent No. 439,316, dated October 28, 1890.

Application filed November 8, 1889. Serial No. 329.632. (N0 model.)

To. all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SAMUEL K. WHITE, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Power-Transmitting Devices; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a partof this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in belt or rope transmission, and more particularly to devices to be used in place of conepulleys and the like for giving variable speed to a driven shaft.

The nature of the invention will fully appear from the following description of the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side view of a construction containing my invention. Fig. 2 is a central axial section of a series of pulleys loosely mounted on a shaft and each adapted to be independently engaged therewith, the construction shown in this figure being one form that may be practically employed either on the driving or driven shaft in connection with my invention. Fig. 3 is a section transverse to the shaft of Fig. 2 in the line 3 3 of that figure. Fig. 4 is a side view of a beltgear embodying myinvention, embracing pulleys of different sizes on the two parallel shafts.

A is a driving-shaft, represented as having thereon a pulley A, by which it may be rotated.

B and B represent a series of pulleys of unequal diameter, each mounted loosely on the shaft A, and each adapted to be independently engaged with or disengaged from the shaft by any suitable means. There being only two pulleys in the series here shown, such means for engaging the several pulleys B and B with the shaft A are for distinctness indicated as ordinary forms of clutches O 0, one for each of said pulleys.

D is a shaft to be driven, and on it is mounted a fixed pulley E. Here shown as of cylindric form.

F is an endless belt, here shown as a rope trained back and forth over all the pulleys B,

B, and E, and G is a grooved idle-pulley appulley G is shown as suspended from the belt F and as hanging between the rising and descending portions of said belt, the necessary force for tightening the belt through the pulley G being imparted by a weight, as G, hung from the axis of said pulley. The arrows indicate the direction of movement of the belt F. Following it from the idler G it will be seen to ascend from the left-hand side of said idler and to pass over the pulley B and under the pulley E as many times as there are grooves in the pulley B, and then to pass from the pulley E to the pulley B, over which it also passes as many times as. there are grooves therein, taking in the pulley E at each turn and from its last turn over the pulley B, passing to the right-hand side of the idlepulley G. Obviously either of the pulleys may have as many grooves as desired or necessary; or, if the belt be fiat, it may pass as many times as desired around either of the said pulleys, which will of course be made the proper width of face to accommodate them. In the construction above described, if a speed of the driven shaft D be required such as may be given by the pulley B, then the pulley B will be left free to rotate loosely on the shaft A, and the pulley B will be clutched to said shaft. If, on the other hand, a speed of the shaft D be required such as may be imparted thereto by the pulley B, then the pulley B will be loosened on the shaft A and the pulley B clutched thereto.

Obviously the series of unequal pulleys may be applied to either the driving or the driven shaft, or both shafts may be supplied with such pulleys, said pulleys being adapted to be clutched to their shaft according to the speed required.

As one of several suitable forms of device by which a series of more than two adjacent pulleys on the same shaft may be separately clutched thereto, the shaft of Fig 2 (marked A, but answering to either the shaft A or the shaft D of Fig. 1) is shown as having a lengthwise axial passage a, in which runs a slide H, having opposite projections or keys h thereon extending outward through slots to in the endless belt.

The shafts A and D are shown in the drawings as located one above the other. The

= plied to one end of the loop formed by the shaft beyond the circumference of the latter. Each of the pulleys B B B B &c., is adapted to rotate freely on the shaft A, except when engaged therewith bythe projections h on the slide H. These projections do not exceed in width (measured in the direction of the length of the shaft) one-half the thickness of one of the pulleys, and each of said pulleys has an annular recess 5 aboutits central open ing, which in depth is equal to about half the thickness of the pulley, and from this annular recess extend feather-ways 6 through that remaining portion of the pnlleys thickness at which it closely embraces said shaft. When the slide H is drawn to a position so that its projections h occupy one of the annular recesses 19, all of the pulleys will be loose on the shaft; but when the said slide isthrown so as to bring the projections h into the feather-ways b, the pulley thus engaged will he clutched to the shaft and rotated therewith. This construction is not of my invention, but is shown, as stated, as one practicable form by which a series of any number of pulleys may be applied to either the shaft A or the shaft D in connection with my invention.

Fig. 4 illustrates the construction above referred to, in which a series of unequal pulleys is applied to both the driving and driven shafts. In this instance pulleys H H, constructed and operating like the pulleys B B, Fig. l, are placed on the shaft D, clutches I I being employed in connection with said pulleys and operating in the same manner as the pulleys C O of said Fig. 1.

It will of course be understood that when the driving or driven shafts are not placed one above the other the idle-pulley G, occupying the slack or loop of the belt, cannot be suspended as shown in the drawings, but will require to be otherwise supported in any one of many obvious ways. It is also manifest that the loop or slack may be trained off in any direction, and that the pulley G may be placed at any distance from the shafts and the pulleys B B E, &c.

I claim as my invention The power-transmitting device described and consisting, essentially, of two shafts provided with pulleys, the pulleys on one or both of said shafts being plural in number, loose, and of unequal diameter, means for independently engaging at will each of the loose pulleys with its shaft, an endless belt trained back and forth over all said pulleys, and an additional pulley occupying the slack or loop formed by said belt when so trained, substantially as described.

. In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I affix my signature in presence of twotwitnesses.

. SAMUEL K. WHITE. lVitnesses:

M. E. DAYTON, C. CLARENCE POOLE. 

